Vison of Life...It speaks about my views towards what's happening around us, though many of the things represents Pune, a becoming Metro in Maharashtra,India yet most of us live in similar city life. In city day to day life all we face is problems around us; from traffic to water to slums to power supply & many more, but who has solutions? That's why the name
Vison of Life!
Sanjay Deshpande

Tuesday, January 23, 2018

“Corruption is the
enemy of development, and of good governance. It must be got rid of. Both the
government and the people at large must come together to achieve this national
objective”... Pratibha Patil.

No need to introduce this name our first Lady President who is
also known for her strait forwardness which has been reflected in her above
quote. No subject of sharing isn’t corruption as there is nothing I want to write
or even think about corruption such is its existence in & around us but
what I want to share is about later part i.e. development & good governance.
And yes when these two terms are applied to our Pune city then PMC’s name is
bound to get pop up! That way Pune is no more just PMC but it’s a big
conglomerate of PMC, PCMC, Cantonments, PMRDA & ZP i.e. Zillah Parishad,
yet PMC is always in lead role as big brother of the house or say big sister! The news which made me remind Hon Ex President’s quote is
there will be hike in property tax by PMC this year. This isn’t a news actually,
as before every budget may it be Country’s or State’s or PMC’s, all is about
“Kya badhega?” i.e. which commodities prices or which taxes will be increased;
as any govt thinks only on the lines of squeezing the existing tax payer
because only a living & healthy person can donate blood! No, I am not
saying don’t increase property tax or any tax, that’s not allowed to say by
being a builder in this city or State or Country, I am pointing out towards
what as a common man, one expects from the City, State or Country for the taxes
he or she pays & in return what he gets.

Before going in to expectations of common man from the city
budget (lets control our topic to the city at present), we must have a look on
the logic given by PMC or city bosses for proposed hike in property tax. I
don’t have exact count but last year’s PMC’s budget was some Rs 5000 crores
& people were as festive or thrilled as share brokers gets when the share
market's sensex touches new high. But as
usual to make budget for some figure & achieving that figure, are two
different things is what our rulers always forgets & that’s what happened
to budget’s last year’s magic figure too!None of the departments was able to generate the targeted revenue
resulting the budget fall short nearly by 30% in revenues is what experts are
saying. No one will speak in open but even the PMC officers are saying the
target itself was wrong & that’s the reason it failed. For that lets see
which are the major revenue generating departments for the PMC; they are LBT (earlier
it was octry), then Building permission, Property Tax, Water Ses (pani patti),
Signage & Hoarding Permission, Encroachment are the departments through
which PMC’s revenue gets generated. In above list, top three grocers are GST,
Building Permission & Property Tax, so let’s see department wise what has
happened for the revenue front.

LBT, now GST which is a Central Govt’s tax is applicable for
ever transaction in this city on any commodity & whatever is charged part
comes back to PMC as local body. I think only this front is somewhat nearing
target as compare to any other city in the State, Pune still attracts many
people for purposes like job & education to migrate here & it’s the
sheer population which is required to purchase so many things for its day to
day needs, which in turn gets reflected in generation of GST for PMC! At the same time we should not forget this ever increasing
population if is a boon for GST revenue then it’s a curse (pardon me I am not
using it in bad way) to city as the city is supposed to provide basic
infrastructure to this population which is its right! And on one side if
increased GST revenue from the city is good sign of growth then that growth has
to be backed up by various services which PMC is supposed to provide, which
unfortunately isn’t happening! At the same time strong follow-up is
required to get the share from GST collection from Central Govt, so PMC gets
its share in time to keep its system running or else like justice delayed is
justice denied, same way, payment delayed is payment denied!

Then comes, the building permission dept, which till just few
years back used to be a biggest revenue earner for PMC! Those who don’t
understand how building permission can generate revenue for PMC, for them lets
understand every sq ft of new permission in the city (PMC limit) given by PMC
gets nearly RS 200 sq ft of revenue for PMC. This revenue comes via many heads i.e.
development charges, various premiums for getting free of FSI portion of
building like stair case, passages, balconies, double height terraces etc. At
the same time TDR consumption also is being done with premiums & then there
are charges like road development which are not allowed to be taken yet PMC is
charging it. So if approximate say one crore sq ft of area new projects are
sanctioned then this means nearly Rs 200 crores revenue for the PMC. But since
last few years this graph is consistently declining & PMC bosses must look
in to the basics of the entire building permission as well real estate scene if
they want to take the graph up. As unless more & more proposals comes for
sanction the building permission dept won’t be able to achieve the revenue
target & for that some ground work is a must. Any businessman
knows there are two ways to make money, less turnover but higher margins or
more turnover with lesser margins & till now PMC was doing earlier way.
Though the turnover was less yet the end product i.e. flats was being sold but
slowly surrounding areas of PMC i.e. PCMC & now PMRDA started developing
& people got option of buying home at cheaper price. At the same time
PMC’s imbalanced infrastructure made some areas (suburbs) well developed with
all basic infrastructure, naturally rates of lands as well flats in these suburbs
went sky rocketing & beyond buying capacity of most clients! And as
rates of all premiums as well development charges are directly related to ready
reckoner rates of the lands buildings in PMC become more costly than in compare
with other local bodies. And then times
were/are changing, there are migrants coming in this city & they do need
home, but the home should be in their budget, which isn’t possible in PMC limit
so there is no demand & as there is no demand there is no new proposals in
the quantity there used to be earlier & this has reflected in reduced
revenues of building permission!

At the same time
our dear UD’s (urban development dept) amazingly clueless & ever-changing
policies, is one more thing for less supply of new building proposals in PMC
area. From banning construction in 100’ distance from foot of the hills to no
development adjoining nallahs or streams to parking policy to not taking
decision about DPR in Metro track, so many policies are framed in such a way
that its becoming impossible to plan a building & build it without making
it costly for the masses! If you want more buildings then you need to create more
spaces for them is simple funda of urban planning & then if you want to
make the homes affordable then see that basic infra like roads, water, drainage
& public transport is evenly distributed in all parts of the city, so
people won’t rush for some particular suburb. Right now even in smart suburb
like baner-balewadi also there is no even distribution of water supply, roads
are not marked & at any hour of time rickshawalas refuse to come & this
is about smart suburb, so imagine what must be happening in other parts. Lets
understand people won’t buy flat in two cases, one where is rates are beyond
their budget & second is rates are in budget but no infrastructure is
available! Making & implementation of development plan i.e. DP plays a
vital role here & unless we won’t do it fast, it’s difficult to make the
revenue graph of building permission grow up again! Though PMC bosses are
trying hard & things like architects sanctioning plans & twenty four
hours plan passing like things are moving up but when your hand is fractured
just pain killer won’t do & you need to apply plaster to the hand & not
leg!

On the top of it there is issue of development of infrastructure
in newly merged villages as joke is all the developments of the buildings is
mostly complete already, of which premiums has been either received by PMRDA or
the Collector but expenses will be done by PMC! I think politicians &
administration should take a very strong stand that they must get their share
of premiums collected in these villages & not only eleven villages but all
thirty four villages from right now!

Finally its Property Tax, talks of hiking the same has been done
every budget but our dear elected members don’t want to make their voters angry
so it’s always thrashed out & instead false targets are given to other
departments to cover the deficit as that’s easier & win-win situation for
all! I doubt whether all the properties in
PMC limit are recorded in first place & then are they taxed & then is
the tax from every single property is being collected. As I said at the start,
its healthy person who always ends up donating blood but what about the person
who is healthy but wearing mask of sickness? Unofficially it’s said that nearly
forty percent of city’s population lives in slums (read illegal constructions)
& which isn’t surely been taxed, this means sixty percent people paying
property tax for hundred percent people! And then out of that sixty percent
nobody knows how many are listed in tax list. Then there is issue of old
establishments & new one, for e.g. a new two bhk flat has to pay property
tax of nearly Rs 4000 per year while a flat some twenty years old has to pay
one third of this rate & in some cases of old city homes, this rate comes
to few hundred rupees but residents of all three establishments uses same
infrastructure of the city is a fact! I really wonder who derived this property
taxation system of ours; this must be unique in entire world! May be there can
be some logic but to a plain mind like mine, simple thing is like income tax,
there should be only one criteria for property tax & that is carpet area I
am using & use of it i.e. commercial or residential. The problem every time
why tax hike is opposed by the so called “mananaiyas” is recovery of dues but
never they jointly comes together & see that there is no single due of
property tax pending & a drive for recovery is never supported! Then
issue is how we are going to collect property tax from slums, I never remember
any discussion in PMC’s general body meeting about it, though there always has
been heavy discussions about making fines to the developers whose projects
actually runs this city via revenue they generates! And on top of it when there
is hike in property tax by already burdened limited tax players, it’s bound to
get opposed by all segments & sure eventually it will be withdrawn!

Instead it’s high time that PMC bosses must act on increasing
net for taking more property tax payers in, as well apply a same platform to
all the citizens for tax payment. One more aspect is
giving services in lieu of property tax as when I don’t get proper water
supply, no drivable roads or public transport, public toilets stinks &
public schools& hospitals are below par; in such case how you are going to
make people compel to pay the taxes or expect their willingness to pay the
property tax, is the question I will ask to entire PMC rulers!

In the mean time I read that hoarding fees collection Hon. PMC
Commissioner expects to be increased to Rs 200 crores from Rs 20 crores at
present, well I admire positive thinking of Mr. Commissioner but when ninety percent
of hoardings are illegal & of political leaders which are rulers of the
city, I doubt even last year’s target will be achieved! Rather looking at the
revenue heads like Encroachment fees as well Sky Signs (hoardings) charges, on
one side it’s the citizens who encroaches on roads/footpaths for selling goods
& it’s the citizens only who buy their things from the encroachers! Also the Punekar’s must understand one
thing, nothing comes free in this world & if you expect PMC to serve you
better, then your duty doesn’t ends at just paying property taxes but in many other
ways, like keeping your surrounding clean, saving water, using public
transport, not buying vegetables from illegal encroachmenters & many such
as then only the you are entitled to call yourself citizens of this city or
else there is no difference between you & an illegal migrant, mind it!!

Friday, January 19, 2018

“A few mistakes
made by a person working productively cost far less than a person paralyzed by
laziness or fear.”… Sheikh Mohammed bin
Rashid Al Maktoum.

This year marks 11
years since His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, who is also
Vice-President and Prime Minister of UAE, became the ruler of Dubai. His
respect for business-like and service-led government has seen Dubai’s
population grow from 1.4 million to 2.8 million during his 11 year rule;
he has lead from the front and implemented strong public transport across the
city and has seen Dubai Airport become the busiest in the world. And it’s my
third trip in last three years to this dessert dream, made me respect Mr.
Maktoum more with my every trip, that’s why I used his quote which speaks about
his attitude towards not just Dubai which is his country & kingdom but
life! And let me remind you, unlike most other middle east countries there is
no oil money in Dubai, yet when its middle east first names comes to the mind
of any outsider is Dubai & many of middle east rulers are secretly jealous
of Dubai’s popularity amongst outer world! And Dubai has
reached to this fame hard way as it takes more than just money to create a
dream like Dubai amidst the dessert & then Dubai wasn’t cash rich ever like
its sister i.e. Abudhbai leave apart its neighbors Qatar, Muscat & Saudi!

So what’s secret behind Dubai, even
if you follow Mr. Maktoum’s quotes, you will know the philosophy which is
backbone of Dubai’s glittering success, but is it all? No, its vision as well
will to execute the vision & a professional dedicated approach which backs
up that will to execute is the three legged success mantra of Dubai is what I
conclude. And its same all over the world, ask any Singaporean or German
citizen, they too have witnessed such transformation, then what special about
Dubai? Well, the time span in which it has achieved this status as well the
background & culture of the city, which is also equally important. Just few
decades back it was settlement of some fishermen & pearl hunting divers,
residing in hutments & now is Middle East’s trade center as well one of top
tourist destinations of the world. Right from making the locals change their
ways to live, to make the outer world confide in this settlement of fishermen
& come here for investments is some achievement, which so called cultured
& well settled countries like India & Pakistan also are unable to
achieve. When I read about our sarkari babu’s (read govt officers) as well
political leaders visiting so called forward countries like UK, Spain
& Sweden I always wonder (after visiting Dubai so frequently in recent)
that why we restrict Dubai as just shopping destination, it’s actually our
short sightedness! The city has done wonders on the front of town planning as
well giving best life to its citizens.

During my this
visit I spoke with many of my friends who are in different fields & are
residing in Dubai over past decades & one common feedback was the city is
best for its citizens. The Sheikh tries to do every good rather best thing for
its residents, though its ways can be questioned (A thing you can’t afford to
do in Dubai as a foreigner) but then ask any Indian, he will say we need a King
type ruler though on social media everybody is happy in slamming our present
ruler i.e. Mr. Modi, is different story! I agree we are a democratic country
& there are limitations but then in one of his quotes Mr. Maktoum himself
have said, you can win the people only by love & not by force! Especially
when the world is changing fast & internet as well social media has become
so powerful in such case to keep a population of some 2.8 millions happy is not
an easy task! He has taken some unpleasant decisions, in very recent times from
1st Jan 18, Dubai govt applied 5% VAT on every purchase &
not just that its implementation includes book keeping for smallest of trades
men with heavy fines (some 25k dirham) for over ruling the law. And when it’s
making people respect the law no one can beat Dubai, as that’s why it’s
least crime city in world in its size league! Jokingly it’s said in Dubai, that,
“Dubai is a fine city, it charges heavy
fines for any mistake you make!” It’s said that theVAT has been implemented as Dubai is facing some serious cash
crunch (again something no one will acknowledge in open) though only time will
tell whether the VAT implementation saves Dubai or worsen the things. But this
hasn’t any way affected Mr. Maktoum’s plans to make Dubai number one in world
as one look at the developments going around & you know he is a man on
mission!

Like many of my friends always are
curious about why I always visit forests, many a times same forest repeatedly;
my answer is forest is ever changing & you will never find it same, how
many times you may visit it. Same thing I feel about Dubai now, each time the
city looks different, changing its appearance (needless to say on better side)
for the visitors as well its resident. Always trying to offer something
better to everybody associated with it & this time also wasn’t exception. I
spent my maximum time wandering around the city with my friends who took me to
not just popular tourist places but everywhere, even some places haven’t been
explored by locals also! To name a few I will share three things, Miracle
Garden, Dubai Canal Development & one is private residences colony named
Springs. This will make you understand what an ideal city should provide to its
residents.

Miracle Garden as
the name suggests is a miracle in dessert as I have seen gardens & huge
ones, natural as w ell man made but the to build a garden spread over hundreds
of hector of sand & to make it sustain extreme weather condition which
differs from 10 degrees to fifty degrees is something special. This garden
is built over nearly eight lac sq ft area with millions of flowers blossoming,
making it one of the largest natural flowers garden. There are many sculptures
including a life size Emirates Boeing airplane, decorated with plants all over
it. No wonder since its opening four years back the place is a must visit spot
for tourists visiting Dubai. Well we too
have many gardens in our Pune city but what’s difference is the way they are
being presented to the visitors & maintained & marketed too, and we
fail on all three fronts is a bitter fact barring some exceptions like Pu La
Deshpande garden! Its spots like Miracle Garden which gives face to the
city& stood to the expectation of the tourists giving them satisfaction of
experiencing something unique! This is what a
ruler has to do for the city i.e. seeing the dreams & make them reality!

Then there is one
more wonder which came in existence very recent,Dubai Water Canal
whichis an artificial canal unveiled on 2 October 2013 and
inaugurated on 9 November 2016. It comprises one shopping centre, four hotels,
450 restaurants, luxury housing, walkways and cycle paths. It is a
three-kilometer long project starting fromBusiness Bay
(commercial district) into thePersian GulfthroughSafa Parkand Jumeirah, which are suburbs of
Dubai. The width ranges from 80 meters to 120 meters. It is six
meters deep and be crossed by eight-meter high bridges. It creates new public
places and facilities with a total area of 80,000 square meters with privatemarinasfor boats and a trade centre at the
entrance of the canal. Well, leave apart statistics but would somebody have
ever imagined feel like moving in city of canals i.e. Amsterdam while moving in
a city in dessert? Yes it has become a reality & I was fortunate to visit
this promenade &it has made out of the state way, a Dubai trademark! While
walking along the canal, I noticed the minute detailing which has been taken
care, along with sit outs on the walk way there are light poles with provision
of charging the cell phones of the walkers, even this has been thought of! At
evening music is played & at every electric pole, there are speakers,
needless to say they are of company like Bose! Looking at these speakers I
remembered reading news of theft of LED light fittings on a street in Pune; here
in Dubai nobody can dare to think so even about the Bose speakers, rather
nobody thinks on these lines. That’s the culture we need to cultivate as its
public property & it has to be maintained to serve the city & that’s
everybody’s responsibility, hope someday we Punekar’s (read Indians)
understands it! The Dubai Canal
will not only be a great tourist attraction bas well boost to somewhat down
real estate market but it’s a great facility to spend time in open for the
citizens of Dubai. Looking at that beautiful canal walk way & its
development work, I remembered the dreams shown to us about river
beautification & images of citizens throwing garbage in Mula/ Mutha from
the bridges over them, flashed in my mind! May be we don’t deserve even such
dreams is what I think whenever I look at such developments like Dubai Canal!

The third place I
visited was of bungalows & town houses & its private development &
on this front we too have any good developers who can match the workmanship but
what is special is the scale of development. Springs, the project is of nearly
four thousand bungalows & villas & is spread in clusters of three
hundred/four hundred bungalows at a stretch. And main aspect is every cluster
has a lake of its own, yes a lake! And the biggest lake was of periphery nearly
two kilometer, now you can imagine the scale of this development. What such
development has made impact is there is bio diversity now here & you can
see sparrows, parrots & mainas along with even hoppoos (a bird which eats insects
from grass) in the premise of these bungalows. This is very
important aspect of development as on one side our Pune city is witnessing loss
of sighting of sparrow like common birds & water bodies & here amidst a
dessert Mr. Maktoum is busy in building entire life cycle! As do mind you doesn’t
build a city with just concrete & steel but a city is build with life in it
& that’s exactly what our planners (read rulers) needs to be understood!

One more thing has
to be mentioned is Dubai’s synchronized transportation system RTA i.e. Road
& Transport Authority which controls Metro, Local Busses & Taxis,
making it separate subject of study! Dubai is lot more than just a shopping destination or
trade center & above three places are just at zalak (trailer) of what Dubai
has to offer to its residents, as if you build a city keeping in mind citizens
then the city is bound to become a worth visiting for the tourists also, is a
simple fact about urban planning which our planners has failed to acknowledge repeatedly. By the way
something about Mr. Maktoum’s attitude towards the city as a lot has been known
about his wealth yet this guy moves in & around city alone, just like a
common man, very same like Harun Al Rashid of Baghdad in Arabian Nights. He
meets people, speaks with them about their expectations from the city, (btw
fires public workers if found absent from their work place). Agreed he is a
King & it’s always his way or high way but then one must appreciate his
sincere approach to do not just something better but only the best! His ways
can be doubted but not intentions & that’s why Dubai citizens respects
& loves their King. Though few things like extending resident visa from two
years to ten years can be thought of for making people promote to invest in
Dubai as well ease of doing business along yet as he says in his quote, unless
you are working you can’t do mistakes & he is ready to afford as well
correct his mistakes!

What I take back along from Dubai is
Mr. Maktoum’s passion to excel in every aspect of life & opting only for the
best. Agreed we are a developing, poor country but so was Dubai too just few
decades back. And if I alone can’t change my entire country yet I can definitely
change my work place as well my individual surrounding; I returned to Pune with
my piece of passion which requires no customs duty. Dear Mr. Maktoum, thanks
for refilling my brain tank with this fuel of passion, which Dubai probably has
biggest storage if not of oil!

Sunday, January 7, 2018

Whatsap has its own limitations so the letter sent to you was a bit cut short, here is the original version… mama

4th Jan 2018

..

"Anger is best when you learn to control it within yourself"... sanju mama.

dear bhikya,

You know my habit of using quotes by writers or thinkers or even from cartoon /super hero movies but when it’s writing a letter to your own nephew, I thought using something of my very own, so used my quote! That way each day not just each year you grow but today you turned 21, an age where people used to be considered as officially grown up in our times! When I was young we used to wait for getting in to 21st for many reasons, voting was the last but then legally you were considered as grown up & I used to think that now my opinion or suggestions people will take seriously (though I was wrong about it)! Today age of grownup has got down to 18 years only, as you get voting right as well driving license, yes drinking age has been increased to 24 but I wonder anybody follows that norm anymore! Bhikya, what I like most about you is the dedication with which you do anything, may it be body building for six packs or studying for medical, which was your target & it’s this habit of yours which will take you ahead of all! As by me what your genre lacks is setting up goals & work hard towards them, may be its because for many of you, goals were already achieved by our genre making it difficult for you guys to have any choice for selecting your goals.

For my genre there were so many goals for us, right from having a decent shoes pair to having a two wheeler to getting a job, we have set up so many targets which most of you guys have already in your pocket even before you entered in 18's! In such times I am happy my nephew is one of rare species who sets his goals & work hard to get them. But at the same time what you need to work on is your temper & not being able to accommodate things which you don’t like. Do you know who your biggest enemy is? None other than you yourself as when you set a target then you should make yourself in such a position that nothing can deviate you from your target & two things are any man’s worst enemies, impatientness & short temper! You have watched enough English movies, especially where characters of sniper’s are involved & showed taking aim at the target which is at very long distance. Do you know when it’s a shot at target some hundreds of meters away then however good & powerful rifle you got in your hand, you need to take so many things in consideration for e.g. wind direction & wind speed, as slightest of miscalculation of wind flow can change the course of the bullet! Most importantly a sniper has to be very strong & steady minded & needs to have control on his/her breathing, as even breathing moment can make you miss your aim. What most people will see is just a nice shot & admires the sniper when he shoots a tiny object at distance but how many could understand the hard way the sniper has come through & minute details he has worked on? Life is also taking aims & shooting, as when you are setting target as long as your career or body building, then you can’t afford to allow anything which will affect the course you have chosen! Here is where what habits you have cultivated came in light & like smoking or drinking, being short tempered & impatient too are bad habits which you need to keep away.

Bhikya mind one thing, any ship can sail smoothly with wind in favor & in calm waters but only a battleship is built to sail against the wind & in rough waters, yet to remain on the course it is travelling on! Our human body with a mind in it also is like a ship sailing in the ocean of life which has many ports named career, physical fitness, knowledge, respect, honor, relations which we have to reach at some stage of our life. And for that we need to build our ship so it can travel to all these destinations & for that there are many ways but one sure way is acquire knowledge & adopt humbleness. As like money, knowledge also is a weapon, much powerful. And do you know what any powerful weapon makes to us, it goes in our head from our hands & weapon’s aim is shifted to our own self & that’s the first step of defeat which we write for our-self! Being humble & paying respect to everybody is only way to keep the weapon in our hand & aimed at right target, mind it always. So it’s up to you what you become by yourself, a battleship or a luxury yacht! That way every generation thinks they went through hardship while the next generation has got easy life because of their efforts but I never think so, as the world is changing fast & your generation will face more challenges & biggest challenge is to survive change as well pace of life. You are in a profession of medical science which is still considered as noble but now people want results & they want it fast & in their way; bhikya, biggest challenge is to stand to the expectations of others & that needs lots of patience! I often wonder about medical profession & English language where "patient" term is so important & directly related to another term i.e. "Patience"; its irony that a doctor needs both i.e. patients & patience to become successful!

On your b’day I wish you lots of patience as if you achieve it, then patients will follow always! And do mind patience needs practice, just like your profession, the more you practice it the more patient & skill you get!

While you grow do remember, understand the term named success first then try to become successful as many successful people have failed just because they failed to understand success! And yes learn to smile not just laugh as smile comes from within & laugh can be just a surface activity, best way to face defeat is to smile at it & get over it!! There will be times when people will doubt your capacities, don’t ignore them but best way to clear that doubt is prove them wrong by delivering!! Last but most important any beautiful building becomes strong to survive test of the time only if it has solid foundation. And the foundation is always buried under the surface of earth, though the building which people admire is seen above the ground. Same way your success will be standing on many people who will be always in shadow & whom others will never see; your parents, friends, teachers are few of them. Never ever forget those who has been your foundation as many of them has sacrificed a lot for you as that only has made you what you are today & will be; all you have to do is make them proud by your existence, that’s all they will ever want from you!

That’s what I wanted to share & don’t restrict my words to you, as they may be written for you but they are for rohit, rohan, ketki & for all your genre, so do share with them as one more job of battleship is keep other vessels safe too!